SPEAKING OUT ABOUT HEROIN

TRACY GORDON FOX; Courant Staff WriterTHE HARTFORD COURANT

Their ideas for fixing Willimantic's heroin problem ranged from a moratorium on treatment centers to a more responsive police department. Some suggested that the addicted needed more help. Others said throw them out of town.

One by one, dozens of residents, mostly from Windham, stood up Thursday night before a crowd of more than 125 and television cameras in the Windham High School auditorium. They wore shirts and ties, and jeans and T-shirts. They were business people, former government leaders and recovering addicts.

Kenneth Folan, the Republican town committee chairman who organized the meeting, started off by suggesting a moratorium on treatment centers in the town.

"This town is like a sponge that has been soaked. We can't take any more, and the state has to hear it," he said, drawing applause from the audience.

Folan called the meeting after residents were upset that they were not allowed to speak at a panel discussion last week. The forums have followed a five-part series in The Courant that outlined the history, scope and toll heroin has taken on the Willimantic section of Windham during the past 30 years.

On Jan. 23, residents will come together again to kick off an action plan, initiated by townspeople and by a first selectman's task force.

"You will become Windham's voices for solutions," Folan said. "There is not one elected official who can do this without the backing of the community. We're not pointing fingers or placing blame. We're looking for solutions."

He purposely faced the dais to the audience, instead of toward the group of town leaders who were up on stage taking notes and listening. And he encouraged people to vent.

Residents were anxious to speak about what heroin has done to their community.

There was Joe Ainsworth, a boyish looking 22-year-old who stood up in front of everyone and admitted that he was a recovering heroin addict, clean for six months. His message was twofold: methadone works, and residents have to fight against the drug dealers.

"I could take you to a dozen places where you could get heroin. Willimantic is known for heroin, OK. Heroin is plaguing us," he said. "It cost me my soul for the longest time. A lot of us are embarrassed about it. It's time to step up to the plate and do something about it."

There was Lisa Day, who questioned why she has halfway houses in her backyard. "Send the people back to Bridgeport and let their communities deal with it," she said. "Send the people back home where they came from."

Some residents complained that they can't get past the police department's answering machine to get to an officer. Others said police should concentrate on nabbing the dealers, not the users.

Dawn Schluter, who owns a three-family house, knows she rents to a drug dealer.

"The cops can't do their job. There are not enough of them," she said, adding that too many of the laws protect the criminals.

"The laws need to change, from housing to stiffer penalties," she said. "The police tell me, 'Don't go out and tap on the drug dealers' cars. You'll get shot at.' Well, I waited a long time to own a house and I'm not going to give it up."

Geri Langlois of Hampton, a former Thompson first selectman and former state representative who is a recovering cocaine user, wanted people to know that addiction can happen to anyone. "It knows no income or boundaries," he said.